St Laurent

St Laurent, on the French Guiana - Suriname border

Our last stop in French Guiana was at St Laurent which is a port on the river that irks the border between the two countries. It has some traditional architectural such as the mayor's residence.

The hotel de ville.

And the church.

But it has a sinister past. The town was founded in 1885 when there was nothing here but this spot was chosen as it was deserted and would make a good port and it was the main receiving station for convicts from France and several famous former internees passed through here such as Dreyfuss and Papillon.

In the square overlooking the port is a statue of a chained convict in despair.

 The entrance to the main camp which id walled all the way around with just this one entrance.

 The church, bakery and some accommodation for staff.

 In contrast there are six double storey blocks for convicts and six single story blocks, and each contain 80 prisoners but overcrowding meant that double that number were held in each building. Over the century that panel colonies in French Guiana existed, 70,000 prisoners were deported but the death rate from malaria, yellow fever, poor food, over work and brutal punishment meant that the death rate was 90%. Only 2,000 former prisoners made it back to France.

 Single cells used within the separate punishment block for the who transgressed the many and petty rules imposed upon them.

 A communal block house where the prisoners would be shackled to the iron rod at the foot of the sleeping area. The slightly raised concrete ledge by the wall was the head rest.

 A single cell bed with a bar for shackles at the end.

Then we left the gruesome prison and went up the road to the ferry to cross into Suriname, watched by a border patrol boat.